Filling-machine.



H. M. SMITH. FILLING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR.23,190B.

Paentea .151113, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IIHIHIHH U| H. M. SMITH.

FILLING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR.23,1908.

Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2,

wir.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HORACE M. SMITH, YOF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0V BOTTLERS l MACHINERY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 'A CORPORATION AOF ILLINOIS.

l1I.FILLING-MACHINSEL specification of Lettersratent.

v Patented Jan. `3, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HonAoEzMLSMrrrr, a citizen `of the United States, residingat Chicago, in the county -of Cookand Stateof Illinois, have invented new and use ful Improveniente in Filling- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in filling machines of the rotary type and more move the receptacles to and from lillng posi' tion ,by a cam lift mechanism constructed and'arranged to reduce wear on the parts to a minimum, to avoid lateral strains, and to obtain a high efficiency.

Another object of the invention which is especially important in` filling 'charged `liquids is to provide n an evenand regular movement for the receptacles to and from filling position Aand. especially ,after they have been filled and thus. prevent agitation of the liquid in the receptacles which would tend to liberate the contained gases and produce foaming.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated the invention .as embodied in abeer,

. filling machine and referring thereto-.-

Figure l is a sectionalvelevation ofyfthe ,machine Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the `line 2--2 of Fig. 1. fFig. 31 isl an enlarged Adetail sectional view. f Figa4 is an enlarged vdetail sectional view Ashowing fthe.A air chamxber in oneof the bottle lifts. 5 Fig.. 5 is adeltail view of the caminjelevation: I Referring to the{drawingaJ 1s a vertical shaft mounted torevolvein afst'ationarybase 72 and ovided atitslower end with agear 8 Whicrii. is driven Ein anysuitableinanner. -A plurality of vliftnlevers, 9.,y are pivotally mounted at 'their-.inner ends-at 10 to a .sup-

port 11. which is made fast ltovlrcvolve.with

'the shaft 6 by a-key 12. zThis supporthas a v ball-.bearing 13 onf itheglbase: 7jat` the top ithereof and .bronzen bushings 113u are =preferably arranged on V.thebase where athesup-l Port ,engages therewith f The leviers apro- 'j 11net.V ,outward I radially .l from the i,support.

ach, lift lever is connected .bya link 14 to a cross head 15 and a roller-165i is: journaled in the cross lhead and arranged to travel on a-circular f camtrack 17 V rigid with .the base 7. fThecross heady 15y travels nin, aguideway 18 .in the support 11 and this guidewaymay i be formed, as shown in Fig. 2, to engage :the 'endsonly of the cross head .so as reduce the frictional engaging ,surface of the cross head with the guideway,but at the same time the cross head is guided to travel evenly and smoothly in a vertical direction.

yThe l,link 14 is pivotally connectedl at its lower .end 14 to the cross head andat its upper end 14 to the lift lever 9 at or about its middle.V The outer end of the lift lever 9 is connected to a stem 19 whichoperates vertically in a guide 20 on a ide plate 21 which is flocked to the shaft 6 y the key 12. A rest 22 is mounted on they upper end of the stem 19to receive the bottle 23. A liquid tank 24 is mounted on the shaft 6 to revolve therewith anda filling mechanism 25 is sus ended from the liquid tank opposite eachv ottle rest. As the filling mechanism `.formsnopart of the present invention it will not be necessary to describe the same in detail, except to say that itis operated by engagement of the bottle therewith.

' The lift lever 9 maybe connected to the stem.; 19 in any suitablehmanner to impart to the stem an up anddown Amovement but as the cam will move. the lever positively 4andconstantly in the samearcl I prefer to .embody .in the lift mechanism some means whereby said mechanism willgbe automati- Vcally adjusted to variations inthe heights .of bottles.y and likewise `to, provide, agalnst .accident'in event that thebottle isn'o't properlycentered in. filling position. n As one'way ofaccomplishing this automatic adjustment of :theilift mechanisml I, provide an air :cham- .ber at ythe lower endoftheestem 19' -4)and `connect this chamber yby, ajiiexib e r-.verticalshaft 6 to revolve `therewith `(Fig. 1). 'Apiston29 carrying,y alcnp'leather 29 `is, arrangedto operate inthe air` chamber 26 ,and lisfcarried .by a piston ,rodQ which is connectedl at its .lower end by` a. pivoty jlink y lSlfto `gthewouter end of theglijftlever i9. yglhe airrtnbei27 is connected to a ,three-way cock 0117" the, 'chamber .26 and theg ,latter lis con- .,Structed ,in. any Suitablemaeaer; te .Prende tube 27.,toy an air reservoir 28lmountedr ontheA mosphere.

i rotary movement of the machine is continuous and as the lift mechanism travels up from the low part 32 to thehigh part 33 of the cam (Fig. 5) the bottle will be forced against the filling mechanism to operate the Same in a familiar manner. By the time the lift mechanism begins to travel by gravity from the high part to the low part of the cam the bottle will have been filled and when the lift mechanism reaches the low part of the cam the bottle will be in position for removal from the machine. The lift levers are operated positively by the cam and always swing in the same arc. The power is applied to these levers in the most eiiicient manner in a machine of this character for securing an even and regular movement without shocks or jars. `The cross head' traveling in' the guideways prevents the cam from imparting a lateral or torsional strain on the lift mechanism. The air chamber provides for an automatic regulation of the upward movement of the bottle-which may become necessary by reason of inequalities in the height of bottles or because the bottle has not been pro erly centered in filling position. The' mac ine can be adapted to fill bottles of a certain standard height but in practice it is found that there is more or less variation in the height of lbottles and as the movement of the cam lift is in a fixed arc it becomes necessary to provide this adjustment in order to accommodate bottles which .vary in height without setting the machine initially to work with what may be considered to be robably the shortest bottle that may be used). When a somewhat longer bottle than the average is moved to filling position the-airpiston will rise in the air chamvber to enable the lift lever to swing in its arc without materially or appreciably increasing the pressure of the bottle against the filling mechanism. The air chamber is always in communication with the air reservoir and the pressure is equal in both. While the rising'of the piston in the air chamber will somewhat increase the pressure Vthis will not be appreciable because in any event the increase would not be very much and it is distributed through the air reservoir and in all ofthe other chambers. lIf the bottle should be moved to filling osition and then found to have a chippe lip which would permit the escape of beer during thefillin operation the three-way cock can be turne to close the' air tube and exhaust the air in the chamber to the atmosphere, thus allowing the bottle rest to carry the bottle down siffliciently to close the filling mechanism.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

l. In a bottle filling machine, the combinationof a rotatable upright shaft, a support rotating'with the shaft, a plurality of levers pivotally mounted on the support and extending therefrom radiallyvof the shaft, a bottle rest'operated by each lever, a stationary continuous circular cam track around the shaft, and means enga ing said cam track and flexibly connecte to said lever between its ends and above the track to actuatey said lever. t

2. In a bottle filling machine, the combination of a rotatable uprightshaft, a support rotating with the shaft, a lever pivotally mounted on the support and extending therefrom radially of the. shaft, a bottle rest operated by said lever, a stationary conitinuous circular cam track around the shaft,

and means for actuating said lever com rising; a roller to travel on the cam trac a cross head 1n whichsaidrollerds ]ournaled,

`and a link flexibly -connected to said cross head and to said lever between its ends.

3. In a bottle filling mac iine, the combination of a -rotatable upright shaft, a support rotatin with the shaft, a lever .pivotally mounte on the support and extending therefrom radially of the shaft, a bottle rest operated by said lever, a stationary cam track around the shaft, and means for actuating Said lever comprising a guideway, a cross head movable in said guideway, 4a roller journaled in said cross head to travel on said cam track, and a link connecting the cross head to the lever.

4. In a bottle filling machine, the combination of a rotatable upright shaft, a support rotatin with the shaft, a lever pivotally mounte therefrom radially of the shaft, a bottle rest operated bysaid lever, a stationary cam track around the shaft, and means for actuating said lever comprising a guideyvay on -both sides of the cam track, across head movable'in said guideway, a roller'j'ournaled in said cross head to travel on said Vcam track, and a substantially upright link pivotally connected to the cross head and to .the lever between its ends. 5. In a bottle filling machine, the combination of a base, a stationary circular cam track on said base, an upright rotatable shaft on the support and extending mounted in said base, a support mounted on the base to rotate with said shaft and having a circular channel Ifor the cam track, a guideway in the support on both sides of said cam track, a leverl pivotally mounted on the support and extendingrtherefrom radially of the shaft, a bottle rest operated by said lever, a cross head movable in said llt) guideway, a roller journaled in said cross head lto travel on said cam track, and al link flexibly connecting the cross head to the -lever.

taining a column of air in said cylinder to provide a yielding cushion between the cyl-'- inder and piston, whereby to permit variable movement of the bottle rest.

7. In a rotary bottle filling machine, the combination of a liquid tank, a plurality of filling devices depending from the tank, a plurality of bott-le rests opposite the filling devices, a stem-for each bottle rest, an air cylinder at the bottom of the stem,an air reservoir connected to said cylinder, avpiston in said cylinder, a piston rod carrying said piston and projecting downward through the cylinder, a lift lever pivotally connected tothe piston, and means for actuating said lever.

8. In a bottle filling machine, the combination of a base, a stationary circular cam track on said base, a rotatable upright shaft mounted in said base, a support'v mounted on the base to rotate with said shaft and having a channel for the cam track, a plurality of l guideways radially disposed around said support adjacent to the cam track, a pluralit-yof levers pivotally mounted onthe support and extending therefrom radially of y the shaft across said guideways, a bottle rest operated by each lever, a ,cross heafd movable in each guideway, a roller journaled in each cross head to travel on said cam track, and a plurality of upright links flexibly connecting the cross head to the lever.

9. In a rotary bottle filling machine, the

`combination of a liquid tank, a plurality of filling devices depending .from the tank, a

plurality of bottle rests opposite 'the lling devices, a stem foreach bottle rest, a cylin- Y der secured to each stem, a piston disposed within said cylinder,.cam lift mechanism for actuating said piston, comprising a circular cam and a lever mounted to be oscillated by said cam, and means for maintaining a column of air in said cylinder to provide a yielding cushion between the cylinder and piston, whereby tov permit variable movement of the bottle rest relatively to the piston.

10; In a port rotating with the shaft, a leverV piv otally mounted on the support and extending therefrom radially of the shaft, a bottle rest -operated by said lever, a stationary cam rest.

HORACE M. SMITH. Witnesses:

. M. A. KIDDIE,

S. HEALY.

bottle filling machine, the combination of a rotatable upright shaft, a sup` 

